Drummer Cel De Bauwer and singer/keyboardist Luc Smets had achieved some international recognition as members of the band Pebbles. When Pebbles called it quits in 1971 they decided to form Shampoo recruiting the talents of Mad Curry sax player Giorgio Chitschenko, lead guitarist Yves De Vriendt, sax player Francois Maes and bassist Rudy Pinlйe. The band's efforts didn't do a great deal in their native Belgium, but they found a supporter in the form of Francis Dreyfus who signed them to his French Motors label, releasing their sole album in 1972. Produced by guitarist De Vriendt, the optimistically titled "Volume One" took a little bit of effort to get warmed up to, and while it wasn't a classic album by any stretch of the imagination, it had enough interesting segments to warrant the investment of time. Whereas Pebbles had been a pop-oriented band, Shampoo shared more in common with Mad Curry's jazz-rock leanings. That said, these guys clearly had an affection for quality pop music. All tracks on the Shampoo album were composed by Mets, Chitschenko and Cel De Cauwer. The album has some historical interest due to its unusual mixture of harmony pop (a la The Beatles and the first Argent album) and brassy jazz-rock (similar to Chicago and Colosseum). Interestingly, some very short fragments of the album predated the chamber rock of Univers Zero, indicating that their unique vision still had some roots in the general Belgian rock scene of the time. Shampoo's curious mixture fits in well in the jigsaw of Belgian rock between Wallace Collection, Waterloo, Placebo, Arkham and Pazop. Some years later this scene developed into great bands such as Abraxis, Cos and, most importantly, Univers Zero. Line-up / Musicians Luk Smets/keyboards,vocals Cel De Cauwer/drums Giorgio Chitschenko/saxophone Francois Maes/saxophone Rudi Pince/bass Discography Volume One 1971
1.Brother 2.Keep the Day Cool 3.Some Reason 4.Summer 5.Hot Dog 6.Hurry Up 7.My Sweet Honeybee
Prototypical 70's Belgian band, DRAGON's music falls mostly in the hard progressive category with a psychy edge. For all the adepts of delicate and elaborated rock, this band displays a great richness, a great instrumental diversity (Mellotron, guitar, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, etc.) with some lightened guitar soli. They sound like a mix of IRON BUTTERFLY, URIAH HEEP, VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR, and 70s Italian Art Rock. Their debut release was recorded in the U.K. during November 1976, and really picks up the banner that PINK FLOYD left off way back in 1971. Dragon’s debut album is another lost progressive gem that is awash with Mellotron and calls to mind the earliest of King Crimson. 'Introduction - Insects' is an instrumental with a heavy rhythm and dramatic riff. 'Lucifer' is the longest track at over 9 min, starts with seaside sounds of rippling water and gulls crying. Softly strummed guitar and almost jazzy interplay between the instruments with a nice 'walking' bass-line at mid-tempo soon picks up to the verse section, with pretty stoned vocals from Bernard Tallaert, who also plays guitar. The following section kicks off with a slow moody part full of swirling string-synth (by lead guitarist Jean Vanaise) and flute (by drummer Georges Vanaise). It's rather spacey now with some melodious aah-aah chanting (ala Floyd) and hand percussion. Finishing off with the return of the heavier verse section, quite an adventurous piece of music over its duration. Side 1 closes with a ballad-like song 'Leave Me With Tears' heavy with acoustic guitar, pleasant and inoffensive. 'Gone in The Wind' is an up-tempo pop-song with a great chorus and some mellotron. The pick of the bunch for this listener is the 8 min + 'In The Blue' - it features some experimental sounds from guitar. The Bassist Jean-Pierre Houx adds some Trombone to the heady atmosphere, and after some minutes builds into the vocal section with an amazing melody. The harmony vocals are very well done. Here the rhythm guitaring is killer and the Hammond that solos around is ripped straight out of 1967. Phenomenal track. 'Crystal Ball, is another goodie which finishes the album off perfectly, and is structured in a similar way to KHAN's 'Hollow Stone' which is the final track off that album. Line-up / Musicians Bernard Callaert/guitar,vocals Christian Duponcheel/keyboards,synthesizers,Mellotron Jean-Pierre Houx/bass,piano,synthesizers,trombone,vocals Georges Venaise/drums,vibes,flutes Jean Venaise/vocals,guitar Discography(Album) Dragon 1976
1.Introduction 2.Lucifer 3.Leave Me With Tears 4.Gone In The Wind 5.In The Blue 6.Crystal Ball
Along with
fellow countrymen MACHIAVEL, BANZAI were a Belgian quintet from the
mid-70's of the typical GENESIS/YES school of prog. They made one album
and then disbanded after their record company went bankrupt. Their music
features elaborate compositions with layered keyboards, melodic guitar
solos reminiscent of Jan Akkerman's and high-pitched vocals that will
immediately remind listeners of Jon Anderson. The band consisted of
Peter Torfs on keyboards and vocals, John M.C. O. on guitars, Ludwig
Kemat on percussion and alto sax, Evert Verhees on bass and vocals, and
Erry Foix on drums and percussion. The CD version of their album "Hora
Nata" contains everything the band has ever recorded: 5 lengthy pieces
subdivided into smaller parts plus 6 bonus tracks that are slightly more
accessible than the rest. This material is not very original by today's
standards but the musicianship is solid, featuring lots of Hammond
organ and even a brass section. Line-up / Musicians Peter Torfs/keyboards,vocals John MC O/guitars Ludwig Kemat/percussion,saxophone Evert Verhees/bass,vocals Erry Foix/drums,percussio Discography Hora Nata 1974
1.You Always Like An Entree? 2.Try a. Hopeful Strive b. Step By Step c. Find The Way 3. Obelisk a. Like A Stalagmite b. Hora Nata c. Stalagtites In My Jam d. Wet The Ropes 4.Hattrick a. My First Hot-pants b. Kick And Rush c. The Final And The Third Game 5.Three Magicians (part 1) a. Once b. Theme Of The Rainbow c. Bermst d. We?ll Bring You The Sun Bonus tracks: 6.Hora Nata 7.Good Morning Life 8.We're So Sorry 9.Be Careful Now 10.Talking About My Love 11.On The Rocks
Pazop were an
early-'70s progressive rock group with some jazz-fusion tendencies from
Belgium. Though their music was beyond the ordinary, they were never
able to release an album during their short lifetime. Pazop was formed
at the end of 1971 by vocalist and flautist Dirk Bogaert, keyboardist
Frank Wuyts, violinist Kuba Szczepansky, bassist Patrick Cogneaux, and
drummer Jacky Mauer. Wuyts and Szczepanski had just left progressive
rock band Wallace Collection, Wuyts had previously been involved with
Bogaert, Cogneaux, and Mauer had been in another short-lived prog band,
Waterloo. Cogneaux had also been a member of Arkham, a group that
included future members of Magma and Univers Zero, while Sczcepansky, a
classically trained musician born in Poland, played in the Brussels
Opera Philharmonic Orchestra for a couple years before turning to rock
with Wallace Collection in 1970. Even before they had decided on a
name, the new group approached Wallace Collection's label, EMI, and
though the record company did not sign the group, they offered them a
two-day studio session to record a better demo. The four-song demo was
in a style far more commercial than their normal sound, which had
influences as diverse as Miles Davis, 20th century classical music,
progressive rock groups like King Crimson and Caravan, and Frank Zappa.
With the new demo Szczepanski and Mauer headed to Paris to hit up every
record label there for a contract, but they had no success. They also
finally came up with a name for themselves, Pas Op, Flemish for
"Warning" but the spelling was soon changed to Pazop. They finally got a
contract with producer Luigi Oglival in March of 1972, who was able to
get them signed to CBS and the Barclay label. The band went into the
Herouville Studio in France in July 1972 to record the album Psychillis
of a Lunatic Genius. The group also played several gigs at the
Gibus-Club in Paris, which brought them some excellent press, as well as
other shows in France and Belgium. Meanwhile, near the end of that
year, Barclay rejected their album as being too non-commercial, and
chose to release one of the earlier demos as a single instead, much to
the group's chagrin. Oglival, who realized he wouldn't recoup the studio
costs, dropped the band as well, reneging on his contract and even
keeping the master tapes. In 1973, the group was hired by pop musician
Sylvain Van Holme to provide modern rock adaptations of various
classical pieces by Tchaikovsky, Dvorák, Mozart and Verdi. Van Holme
decided to co-produce a new record by Pazop, and booked them at the
Start Studio in Belgium in the late summer of 1973. Van Holme contacted
several record companies, but again the album was not commercial enough.
The group continued touring Belgium and France until July of 1974
before calling it quits. Their inability to get enough gigs and to
release either of their LPs had left them financially and emotionally
strapped, and they split up for more successful groups. Their master
tapes sat in a desk drawer for years. Pazop's two albums, minus the four
commercial demos, were finally released on CD by Musea in 1996. Line-up / Musicians Dirk Bogaert/vocals,flute Frank Wuyts/keyboards,vocals Kuba Szczepansky/violin Patrick Cogneaux/bass Jacky Mauer/percussions Discography(Album) Psychillis Of A Lunatic Genius 1972
1.Le la Loo Loo le La 2.Harlequin of Love 3.Crying for Disaster's Hand 4.What Is the Further Purpose 5.Swaying Fire 6.Mirela 7.Freedom Dance 8.Lovelight 9.Bami, Lychee, Si 10.Harlequin of Love 11.Can It Be Sin 12.And the Hermit Will Be the Master 13.M.M.M. 14.In the Army (Devil Likes Smoke) 15.Airport Formalities and Taking Off... 16.It's the End
This early 70's
Belgian trio is one of the best-kept secrets from Belgium. This
instrumental KB-led trio is completely different from the usual ELP
clichés that one might have. They took their name from the 10AM and 2PM
breaks that allow kids to roam and play on the school grounds.
Jean-Jacques Falaise is clearly the leader of the trio and his KB
abilities shine throughout their two albums, but he also plays a
competent guitar. Francis Lonneux is the drummer and Jean-Paul Vanden
Bossche is the bassist and clearly these guys had decided to include
humour in their music, something that is quite common among Belgian
bands. As mentioned before the music is not like ELP, but instead draws
heavily from Jazz, classics but also many different other sources.Their
self-titled debut (71) has a superb sleeve artwork depicting human
bodies falling through giants KB scales and consist of just six tracks,
while the second album Music Or Not Music (72) holds 15 of them, but
both albums have a similar feel not far away from Canterbury, jazz-rock
and symphonic prog. Line-up / Musicians Jean-Jacques Falaise/keyboards,guitar Francis Lonneux/drums Jean-Paul Vandenbossche/bass Discography Don't Open 1971
1.Burning Chapel 2.Running For Life 3.Sexual Lover 4.Summer In The City 5.California Dreamin' 6.Reach Out, I'll Be There Music Or Not Music 1972
1.Music against music 2.Music for your dog 3.The night was clear, the moon was yellow 4.Where is the bar, Clay? 5.Caligula's suite in horror minor 6.My grandmother likes Andy Williams, too 7.We don't like it either 8.Last train to Rhythmania 9.... and the producer got mad 10.Glove story 11.Laughin' people - meanwhile starvin' children 12.Nothing's holy 13.Concerto for elevator 14.War business is a good job 15.To end or not to end
